Success, Succession and Everything in Between

SYDNEY — After her first visit to a dressmaker, Carla Zampatti, then 5 years old, knew that fashion was her calling.

Born in Italy but raised primarily in Australia, she debuted her first collection in 1965 and opened her first boutique, in Sydney’s fashionable Surry Hills district, in 1972. She now has a network of 32 stores across the country, and her designs are distributed as far afield as Switzerland and Hong Kong via her newly launched online store. Some of Australia’s most recognizable women, including Cate Blanchett, Miranda Kerr and Prime Minister Julia Gillard, have also worn her designs.

Now 70, she is still hard at work, running her label with the help of her two daughters: Bianca Spender designs under her own name as part of the Zampatti brand, and Allegra Spender handles the business’s marketing and operations. Ms. Zampatti, however, still tries on every design that comes out of the workroom.

She spoke with the Journal about John Galliano’s genius, Karl Lagerfeld’s strangeness and how her daughter Bianca brings out her competitive streak.

I draw from my Italian heritage. I understood even as a 9-year-old coming here that there’s a subtle, understated elegance that is very important. Line and cut and quality are also vitally important, and those are the elements that I work with.

Designers come and go. Galliano, at some point, was a genius. McQueen, also a genius—London has produced some fabulous designers—and Westwood was also amazing. Calvin Klein is the best in marketing. What he’s done with something that’s not that spectacular is extraordinary. Armani was very good, and Lagerfeld was brilliant, though I think at the moment a little strange.

I love that New York fashion week is the first, launching the new season. I find the New York designers very creative and also very practical, keeping in mind the woman who is going to wear their designs. The latest Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan are my favorites. Totally different but equally exciting, aimed at their individual markets.

My latest collection is sculptural—bold, dramatic lines with strong colors—a complete change from the softness of my last collection.

I find that if somebody does something really good, I’m not upset by it, I just want to do better. I didn’t realize I was competitive! But [Bianca’s] been a good influence. We work so separately. She has her design room and I have mine, and we do not look at each other’s designs. We try not to. You kind of influence each other, and it’s really important for the two brands to be different.

“Fashion is an evolution,” Ms. Zampatti said. “You look at the world and ask what’s going on, as you would in any kind of art.”

It’s so easy to start a business in Australia. Many designers, when they leave college, instead of working for a company and learning about the industry, they go straight into business. There are more young designers setting up fashion houses in Australia than anywhere else. Australia is still a pioneering country. A lot of the time, with enough energy and talent and the right finances, you can succeed. But when times are difficult that’s harder, even with talent and energy.

My daughters tell me that the fact that I was working hard and had the career that I had made them believe they had to have a career when they grew up. It also makes children more socially able to cope with other people, having a nanny or going to daycare. I think it’s very hard for women without adequate childcare to get anywhere.

We’re not doing as well as we should in encouraging women. But I so believe that women are not particularly good at pushing themselves forward.

In a business like mine, there has to be succession. I have said to Allegra, when I don’t enjoy it anymore I will want to stop. So far that hasn’t happened. I still love it, and it seems to be still working. I like to believe that I will know when to leave.